Business Builders

🔔🔔 Gowri Subramanian built a $200M global software company over 25 years - without venture capital 🔔🔔
Gowri Subramanian, CEO of Aspire Systems, joins Business Builders to share how he built and scaled a global technology services company from zero to $200M in revenue; entirely bootstrapped.
What started as a group of seven friends with no clear plan or funding became a 4,500-person software and technology services business working with global enterprises across the US, Europe, and beyond. But the journey was slow and difficult. It took years to find product-market fit, pivot away from a non-scaling business model, and reach profitability.
Gowri explains how Aspire evolved from an industrial engineering consultancy into a software product engineering company, a pivot that unlocked growth. Instead of raising venture capital, the company reinvested profits and used debt funding to scale, taking a long-term approach. 
Moving from $10M to $100M required one set of capabilities; but, scaling beyond that meant competing with global firms like Accenture, Capgemini, and Infosys. Gowri shares why every stage requires a different company, strategy, and mindset.
The conversation also explores AI and its impact on the software industry. Gowri explains why AI threatens traditional time-and-materials models, while also creating opportunities in legacy modernisation, enterprise transformation, and custom software.
Beyond strategy, this episode dives into leadership, culture, and long-term thinking. Gowri shares why people and open feedback are critical to scaling, and why he’s focused on building a business for the long term - not for exit - including creating impact through philanthropy in India.
This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, scaling, AI disruption, and building something that lasts.
“Business is a rat race - there is no finish line.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
How Gowri built Aspire Systems into a $200M global company
 Why the first 7 years of business were the hardest
 The importance of pivoting when a business isn’t scaling
 How to grow without venture capital
 Why scaling from $100M to $200M is so difficult
 What changes at each stage of growth
 How to compete with global firms like Accenture and Infosys
 The real impact of AI on software businesses
 Why AI is both a threat and an opportunity
 How culture and people drive success
 The role of persistence over decades
 Why teaching skills creates more impact than charity
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 00:55 - Introducing Gowri Subramanian and Aspire Systems
 02:00 - What Aspire Systems does
 05:00 - Moving from India to Singapore and Ireland
 06:00 - Starting with no plan or funding
 09:00 - 7 founders to 3
 12:00 - Early business model and pivot
 13:30 - Shutting down one business
 14:30 - Road to profitability
 18:00 - Early ambition
 21:30 - Bootstrapping vs VC
 22:30 - Growth to $100M
 25:30 - Scaling challenges
 27:30 - “Business is a rat race”
 29:30 - AI and the future
 34:30 - Culture and leadership
 37:00 - Open feedback
 40:00 - Founder mindset
 47:30 - Angel investing
 50:00 - India’s growth
 59:30 - Philanthropy
 01:05:00 - Long-term vision
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, scaling a business, bootstrapping, venture capital, AI and business, software industry, technology services, leadership, company culture, global expansion, startups, India economy, product engineering, long-term business building, philanthropy, founders

🔔🔔 Laura Dowling, founder of fabÜ, built a business by talking about topics most people avoid; and it changed everything 🔔🔔
Laura Dowling joins Business Builders to share how she turned women’s health - one of the most overlooked and under-discussed areas in healthcare - into a fast-growing brand, a platform, and a movement.
What started as years of frustration working as a pharmacist and seeing women suffer in silence with issues no one was talking about, evolved into a business, a movement, and a platform for education.
Laura explains how she spent over a decade developing formulations before launching fabÜ from her couch, without retail backing or a traditional business plan. By building an audience on Instagram and speaking openly about topics many considered taboo, she created demand first - and the business followed.
Along the way, she uncovered something deeper: women’s health has been historically misunderstood, under-discussed, and often dismissed. From menopause to intimate health, many women simply aren’t given the language, knowledge, or confidence to understand their own bodies.
In this episode, Laura shares how she turned that insight into a brand, a live show, and a bestselling book - all while staying true to her voice and refusing to sanitise the message.
She also opens up about failure, launching without a plan, living with ADHD as a founder, and why building a business doesn’t always follow a straight line.
This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, identity, and the power of saying the things no one else is willing to say.
“People are embarassed  to talk about it - but that’s exactly why it matters.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Laura started fabÜ and the problem she saw in women’s health
 How she built a business without a traditional plan
 The realities of launching a product with no retail backing
 Why Instagram played a key role in growing her audience
 How taboo topics became her biggest advantage
 What women’s health issues are still not being talked about
 How to build a brand by being unapologetically yourself
 The role of ADHD in her entrepreneurial journey
 Why founders should trust instinct over “perfect” market research
 How purpose and mission can drive long-term business growth
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
 00:55 - Introducing Laura Dowling and fabÜ
 02:10 - Launching the business from her couch
 05:30 - Preventative health vs “sick care”
 08:45 - Building an audience on Instagram
 14:00 - ADHD and the entrepreneurial mind
 21:00 - Why we don’t talk about women’s health
 24:45 - The talk that changed everything
 27:30 - Turning taboo into a business
 30:15 - Breaking stigma and building a brand
 35:30 - Growing without a traditional plan
 39:15 - Ask for forgiveness, not permission
 43:15 - Trusting instinct over market research
 53:00 - Hiring, team building and culture
 01:00:00 - Asking for help and final advice
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, women’s health, fabÜ, supplements, startup founders, personal branding, Instagram marketing, ADHD and business, health education, building a brand, taboo topics, consumer products.

My guest today is Jayne Ronayne, Co-Founder and CEO of OAC Snacks, an e-commerce company focusing on high protein snacks that are simple, delicious and made for real life. 
Jayne previously founded employee experience platform Talivest, which raised over €3 million in its lifetime (from some very big named investors) and was acquired by the Australian tech company Go1 in 2022.
In this chat, Jayne talks about:
Why she’s turning her back on the business “holy grail” of SAAS, and getting into the difficult & competitive food industry 

Starting and Growing Talivest to a successful exit

Why she views being dyslexic as an advantage in business 

Burnout, fund raising, and the importance of healthy food in our lives. 

Much more
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, SAAS, software companies, raising venture capital, food startups, OAC Snacks, protein snacks, food manufacturing, consumer brands, startup founders, healthy snack industry, product development, building a food brand.

Ann O’Dea joins Business Builders for a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship, technology, artificial intelligence, and building a media business at the dawn of the internet.
As co-founder of Silicon Republic, Ann helped launch one of Ireland’s leading technology news platforms at a time when almost nobody was reading news online. Advertisers didn’t believe in digital media, the audience was tiny, and the future of the internet was still uncertain.
Instead of waiting for the market to catch up, she built for where the world was going.
From cycling floppy disks between newsrooms in the early days of digital publishing, to navigating the 2008 financial crash, media disruption, and the rise of AI and the modern tech industry, Ann explains what it takes to build and sustain a niche media company for more than 25 years.
But this episode goes far beyond journalism.
Ann reflects on the emotional reality of founding and running a business - worrying about payroll even decades into entrepreneurship, learning the hard lessons of hiring, and the importance of having a co-founder when building a startup.
She also shares her views on the future of artificial intelligence, technology, and digital media, and why diversity in STEM is essential if we want the best minds solving the world’s biggest problems.
This is a conversation about resilience, curiosity, leadership, and building a business that evolves alongside the technology shaping the modern world.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why Ann launched Silicon Republic when almost nobody was online
What it was like building a digital media startup in the early internet era
The realities of entrepreneurship - even after 25 years in business
Why having a co-founder can make or break a startup
The difference between chasing clicks and building real audiences
How the 2008 financial crisis nearly destroyed the business
Why curiosity is one of the most important traits in journalism and leadership
The risks and opportunities of AI in media and technology
Why purpose matters more than money for long-term entrepreneurs
Why women in STEM are essential for the future of innovation
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - The early days of the internet
 01:17 - What Silicon Republic actually does as a business
 05:22 - The realities of entrepreneurship
 12:16 - Why founders should consider having a co-founder
 17:53 - Why niche audiences beat clickbait
 25:36 - Lessons from the 2008 financial crash
 29:32 - Why purpose matters in business
 31:46 - Hiring the right people
 42:49 - The future of AI and technology
 59:32 - Why women in STEM matters
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, startup leadership, Silicon Republic, technology journalism, artificial intelligence, AI and media, digital publishing, founders, building a media company, tech industry trends.

John Teeling joins Business Builders for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about risk, resilience, and the 20-year bet that helped revive Irish whiskey. 
When John entered the industry in the 1980s, Irish whiskey had fallen to under 2% of the global market. Consolidated into a struggling monopoly and written off by many, it looked like a declining category. 
Instead of walking away, he built. 
From buying a shuttered chemical plant in Dundalk and installing second-hand pot stills, to navigating bank loan recalls, political pressure, and years without meaningful profit, John explains what it really took to build Cooley Distillery; and why the payoff took nearly two decades. 
But this episode goes far beyond whiskey. 
John shares lessons from decades in mining, resources, and investing, where high risk doesn’t mean high reward, but high probability of loss. He breaks down the difference between risk and uncertainty, why “the Euro is an orphan,” and why unsophisticated investors should never be in speculative markets. 
This is a conversation about long-term conviction, imposter syndrome, stubborn belief, and building businesses that outlast downturns. 
At 80 years old, John reflects on endurance, energy, family, legacy, and what it really means to take responsibility when you persuade others to back your vision.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why Irish whiskey collapsed - and how it came back
- What it takes to break a monopoly
- The difference between risk and uncertainty
- Why high risk usually means high loss
- How to build a distillery from scratch
- What investors get wrong about speculative markets
- The psychological cost of entrepreneurship
- Why you don’t need to love the product to build the business
- How patience compounds over decades
- What most founders misunderstand about conviction
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Why banks shouldn’t accept uncertainty
 01:23 - Growing up in Dublin and early responsibility
 17:06 - The £1 million target by 40
 24:18 - “A euro is an orphan”
 33:10 - How mining companies are really funded
 46:30 - The failed takeover of Irish Distillers
 58:15 - Buying a plant “for bottles”
 01:00:14 - “I sold women’s knickers…”
 01:02:17 - 20 years before real profit
 01:08:18 - “The value of a half-built hole is zero”
 01:13:16 - Energy, longevity and playing rugby at 60